ENGLISH
REFERENCE

suspected

v.
B1 Intermediate US //səˈspɛktɪd// UK //səspˈɛktɪd// sus·pect·ed

v. to believe that something is true or that someone did something wrong, even if you do not have proof yet.

v. to believe something to be likely or probable without certain proof; to have a preliminary impression of the existence or presence of something.


SIMPLE

I suspected that he was lying to me.

CONTEXTUAL

The police suspected the man of involvement in the robbery after finding his car near the scene.

COMPLEX

Although the initial data appeared promising, the lead researcher suspected that a calibration error in the equipment had skewed the results toward a false positive.

Synonyms
Antonyms
Usage

The verb is transitive; when used regarding a person's guilt, it typically takes the preposition 'of' followed by a noun or gerund.

Pitfall

The police suspected him for the crimeThe police suspected him of the crimeWhen linking a person to a specific act, the verb takes 'of' rather than 'for'.

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